Recommended Feminist Literature for Birth through 18

Plan Canada’s Manifesto “Because I Am a Girl…” offers a glimpse at the diverse experiences of girls and women globally. Similarly, each of the selections on this year’s Amelia Bloomer Project List engages readers wherever they are on their own feminist journey. These books offer guidance and inspiration for individual and collective progress.

The world’s young feminists understand that Every Day is Malala Day. Words and photographs in this title capture the joy and determination of their generation’s most famous feminist, Malala Yousafzai. In A Pair of Twins, a girl in an Indian royal court challenges the long-held tradition of elephant trainers being male and with the queen’s assistance, proves she is the best person for the exalted position of Chief Mahout.

In Hidden, older readers will meet Alfhilde, an Irish princess who escapes enslavement and through intelligence and cunning reclaims her life and the ability to determine her future. Readers will find this story not only exciting but also useful for finding their own authentic voice. A Woman in the House (and Senate) celebrates America’s female politicians who have brought their powerful voices to the forefront of American politics.

Axie, the protagonist of My Notorious Life, experiences a childhood marked by abandonment and grinding poverty. Rather than being beaten down by these challenges, she uses them to shape her adult life. She champions women’s reproductive rights while endeavoring to make a safer future for her daughter. Through eerie yet expressive poems, Poisoned Apples deconstructs familiar Western fairy tales, subverting them into a sometimes nightmarish but ultimately truthful and empowering narrative for young women.

As girls determine their own futures, they can look to this list for examples of women across a spectrum of professions including the arts, politics, and business. Leontyne Price stood on the shoulders of Marian Anderson, and in turn paved the way for future opera singers such as Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. Dolly Parton made her name through music yet is also a fierce advocate for social justice and a sophisticated businesswoman. Reshma Saujani provides a guide for young women who will be our future leaders, with special attention paid toward politics, technology, and business. That her roadmap includes mentoring and women working together leads us back to Plan Canada’s Manifesto that “Because I am a Girl…I Can Change the World.”

(McCarney, Rosemary. With Jen Albaugh and Plan International. Because I Am A Girl: I Can Change the World. 2014.)

Nonfiction

A concise history of the obstacles American women faced in the struggle for voting rights and political equality.

*Cooper, Ilene. A Woman in the House (and Senate): How Women Came to the United States Congress, Broke Down Barriers, and Changed the Country. Illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley. 2014. 134p. Abrams Books for Young Readers-Abrams, $24.95 (978-1-419-71036-0). Gr.4-8.

Cooper presents a vivid chronicle from the beginning of the suffrage movement to the present, highlighting important women who have paved critical paths in the American political landscape.

Farrell, Mary Cronk. Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific. 2014. 160p. Abrams Books for Young Readers-Abrams. $24.95 (978-1-419-71028-5) Gr.5-up.
This little known story highlights the perseverance and strength of military nurses stationed in the Philippines during World War II.

Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass fought for equal rights for all Americans. Despite political strife, they remained lifelong friends.

*Yousafzai, Malala. With Patricia McCormick. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World: Young Readers Edition. 2014. 224p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $17.00 (978-0-316-32793-0). Gr.5-10.

Malala Yousafzai, an international advocate for human rights and girls’ education, retells the story of her own education, activism, and attempted murder.

Fourteen-year-old Johanna Morrigan reinvents herself as music critic Dolly Wilde, gleefully eviscerating bands for a nationally-known music magazine while attempting to navigate the complications love, sex, and family.

While many think of American feminism as only the suffrage movement, the women’s liberation movement, and recent activism, women’s movements have been transforming the nation throughout the last century.

Originally a symbol of the coming matriarchy, Wonder Woman has been both an icon and a source of frustration for feminists.

Manoori, Ukmina. With Stéphanie Lebrun. Trans. by Peter E. Chianchiano Jr. I am a Bacha Posh: My Life as a Woman Living as a Man in Afghanistan. 2014. 154 p. Skyhorse, $19.95 (978-1-62914-681-2). Gr.9-up.

Raised as a boy, Ukmina makes the brave choice to live as a man and later becomes an advocate for the rights of women in Afghanistan.